REPAIR OR RENEW

 For many of us, the Repair Shop is a very favourite programme. These skilled crafts-
men and women are called upon from all over the country to repair  precious possessions that have been held on to for many years, often because they reminded them of loved ones long gone. Not only are these wonderful crafts people highly skilled, but they are also compassionate, full of understanding and love. Tears and hugs are an important part of the show.

As these people receive with such joy these precious possessions, now so beautifully restored, very often someone will affirm that their loved one is looking down, and even very near. Is it that somehow, by having these possessions restored, they are seeking to hold onto their dear ones?

But is this the highest we wish for those we have loved? Are we seeking in some way to repair them and to bring them back to us, or are we willing to let them go to that better life that Jesus has promised to those who trust in him?

The older we get, the more our bodies are in need of repair, and we are grateful to accept our new hips or knees or cataract operations, or even replacement organs. And while we thank God for walking frames and wonderful friends who help to give us a quality of life, still we know that ‘our outward man is perishing – but’

Oh, we thank God for the ‘but’ for it goes on, ‘but our inward man is being renewed day by day.’ Yes, not just repair, but renewal.

‘Do you think they are looking down on us?’ my neighbour had asked me. Her father had died shortly before my husband. I believe God gave me the words with which I answered her.

‘I know that Joel is totally taken up with Jesus.’

Yes, it is painful, oh, so painful to lose our loved ones, but we know it is only for a little
while and we, together with all the redeemed, will be totally taken up with Jesus. No more need of repair. New bodies, a new song, no more sorrow or tears – no more death.

There are some old treasures that have been stored away in our attics and have proved to have become of great value in later years, but not many. More often they have turned to dust and crumbled away. Even those that make their way to the Repair Shop are suffering from the moth and rust of which Jesus speaks.

How much better to give away our unwanted items while they are still of some use to others, and do as Jesus asks us, and lay up treasure in heaven.

May the word of this beautiful poem challenge us yet again.

                                                          My heart is there!

Where, on eternal hills, my loved one dwells

Among the lilies and the asphodels;

Clad in the brightness of the Great White Throne,

Glad in the smile of Him who sits thereon,

The glory gilding all His wealth of hair

And making His immortal face more fair –

THERE IS MY TREASURE and my heart is there.

 

                        My heart is there!

With Him who made all earthly life so sweet,

So fit to live, and yet to die so meet;

So mild, so grand, so gentle and so brave,

So ready to forgive, so strong to save.

His fair, pure Spirit makes the heavens more fair,

And thither rises all my longing prayer –

THERE IS MY TREASURE and my heart is there.

 

                                   

 

 

 

TREASURE IN HEAVEN

I am told that moving house is included among some of the most stressful experiences in life. And here was I, once again moving house.

Once my husband retired we thought we had settled into our ‘forever’ home. ‘My next move will be up,’ I had declared.

Since leaving my parents’ home as a young woman to go abroad as a missionary, I had rarely lived anywhere for more than two years, if that. But now, no more flat pack furniture for us. We were able to buy the best, and we added lots more ‘clutter’  as the years passed.

Even with my husband preceding me to heaven I had had no thought of moving, but with old age creeping on and declining health I was advised to consider sheltered living. God gave me confirmation that this was his best for me and I was preparing to move into my ‘Eagle’s Nest’ as I was to name my penthouse flat in Stoneleigh Court. I had chosen a two bedroom apartment as I needed a room for my writing as well as all my teaching aids, but even so, there would not be room for some of our larger furniture.

‘You are laying up treasure in heaven,’ was whispered into my heart as I arranged for it to go.

Others in this complex have spoken of the pain of parting with their precious possessions, while others, unable to make the sacrifice, struggle with being over loaded. But how blessed are we who know we have a home prepared for us in heaven and especially to know that we are allowed to send up treasure in advance.

I suppose I have been laying up treasure in heaven ever since I first answered God’s call to go as a missionary. Leaving for New Guinea, they told me I would not be able to return to UK for nine years so I knew it was no use hoarding some of my possessions. My lovely Morris Minor, my first ever car, had to go, together with many precious possessions, as well as renouncing my financial security. And from then on I had not stayed in one place for more than two years. Believe me, I learned not to hoard.

But now, once again, I am having a big clear out. Teaching the Bible in our local schools for many years, I have accumulated so many visual aids. Coming up to my ninetieth birthday, I had been wondering how long I could continue this ministry, but with Covid 19 and the Lockdown which has followed, I feel that God himself has gently closed the door for me and so, - no good hanging on to all
this ‘stuff’. That which was so valuable, because it was of use, is now ‘clutter’. It must go. Once again I have to remind myself that I am laying up treasure in heaven.

Jesus said, ‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’   

I am sharing with you now one of my very favourite poems.

 

MY HEART IS THERE

                      My heart is there!

Where, on eternal hills, my loved one dwells

Among the lilies and the asphodels;

Clad in the brightness of the Great White Throne,

Glad in the smile of Him who sits thereon,

The glory gilding all His wealth of hair

And making His immortal face more fair –

THERE IS MY TREASURE and my heart is there.

 

                        My heart is there!

With Him who made all earthly life so sweet,

So fit to live, and yet to die so meet;

So mild, so grand, so gentle and so brave,

So ready to forgive, so strong to save.

His fair, pure Spirit makes the heavens more fair,

And thither rises all my longing prayer –

THERE IS MY TREASURE and my heart is there.

 

                                    ( A favourite poem of Mrs. Charles Cowman  I believe)